


AP Conversation Tactics

by jabedalien



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Cigarettes, Coming Out, First Kiss, Fluff, I just love them, M/M, One Shot, Short & Sweet, i dont know what else who tf cares, so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:40:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25702216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jabedalien/pseuds/jabedalien
Summary: “They’re never gonna be okay with you liking guys. There’s no way you can do it that’s acceptable to them. It doesn’t matter how little or much you even talk about it, they just won’t ever be comfortable with the concept. It’s not about what guy you like, or how you like him, it’s the act of doing it at all. Which sort of sucks, but I may as well break it to you now.”
Relationships: Abed Nadir/Jeff Winger
Comments: 18
Kudos: 97





	AP Conversation Tactics

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys i was losing motivation on my current wips a little so just wanted to make something totally different! im actually really happy with how it turned out though. its a really vague high school au, basically britta, jeff, and abed are all seniors in high school

“What’s that guy’s name again?” Jeff asked his lunch table.

“Which one?” His friend Mike said back, following his eyes.

“Skinny dweeby looking one, with the messenger bag.”

“I think it’s Abed. What’s it matter though? I’ve heard him talk like three times since seventh grade. He’s got issues or some shit.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter .” Jeff said, still watching as Abed sat down at a lunch table. “Was just wondering, I think he’s in my English class.”

...

After that conversation Jeff found himself seeing Abed everywhere. He confirmed his name was in fact Abed, Abed Nadir, from someone calling out to him in the hall and when he saw his name scrawled at the top of his English homework. He sat a few rows in front of Jeff, and Jeff started missing pages of notes when he got distracted by watching Abed, who was always biting his nails and doodling and writing frantically in his notebook about things that were definitely not related to verb tenses and rolling a quarter along the backs of his fingers. The quarter one proved to be particularly distracting, actually.

Abed was definitely was sort of geeky looking, but he had high cheekbones and huge brown eyes that Jeff studied every time Abed turned around in class. As far as the skinny part went, there was one time when Abed had taken off his sweatshirt in class, and the t-shirt under it was pulled up a little too, revealing a thin torso with a clear line of abs, and yeah, maybe he replayed those five seconds in his brain far too often.

He started learning things about Abed, one of which was that he actually did talk, just not to any of the same people Jeff talked to. The more he watched Abed though, he started recognizing his little social circle. Band kids and math nerds and anyone that played Dungeons and Dragons on Friday nights mostly, basically everyone that Jeff avoided like the plague. He was friendly with that one girl too, the one who Jeff would probably find attractive if she didn’t have like three nose piercings and hair dyed 10 different colors at once. Actually, she was still sort of attractive, but when Abed was in his line of sight that really wasn’t relevant. Her name was something really stupid too, _Britta_ , Jeff recalled. She wasn’t unpopular, sort of just ran with her own group, one that got high in their cars between classes and hung out in the art room. This of course, made Jeff wonder if _Abed_ was also part of that crowd. He liked thinking about what Abed was up to, what kind of music was playing in the earbuds he wore from class to class or what he was working on when he saw him with Britta through the art room window.

Jeff had been grappling with the unfortunate fact that he was attracted to guys for a few years now, but god, this was definitely the worst of it. Usually his feelings would be fleeting, and he’d push them aside, find some girls to hook up with to make himself feel better and crush any suspicions that Jeff Winger could be anything but straight. This weird thing though, where he was watching Abed, had memorized his schedule and knew exactly where he’d be in the halls just so he could catch a glance, had been going for weeks now with no sign of stopping.

...

It was Saturday night, and someone’s parents were gone for the weekend, so naturally half the senior class was crammed into their house, planning to drink and wreak havoc for as long as they possibly could. Abed and Britta were off in a corner when Jeff walked in.

“Fuck, he’s here.” Britta said, elbowing Abed.

“Jeff?” He asked, even though he already knew the answer. She nodded.

“I told you I didn’t wanna come tonight.” Abed said. “You always drag me to this shit.”

“It’s fine, I’ll hide you.” Britta said, stepping in front of Abed in the hopes of concealing him. He tilted his head down and slouched his shoulders, trying to be as small as possible. “Fuck, this isn’t working, you’re like a foot taller than me.” Britta muttered.

“I know.” Abed said, eyes trained on the ground the entire time.

“I’m gonna say something to him.”

“Britta, don’t do that. Please. Believe me, I know how guys like that do things. If I just ignore him it’ll go away.”

“Yeah but what the fuck is his deal?!” Britta said, angering bubbling in her voice. “What did you ever do to him?”

“I’m telling you, it doesn’t matter what I do, some people just don’t like me.” Abed told her, his voice quiet and sad, barely audible over the blasting music. “I’m gonna go outside, I’ll see you around.”

...

Jeff walked into the party with Mike and immediately spotted Abed with Britta.

“Hey man, there’s a keg in the backyard.” Mike said, pointing towards the back of the house.

“Gimme a minute, I’ll meet you over there.” Jeff said, but when he turned towards them again Abed was gone. He made eye contact with Britta, and used the little bit of courage their pregaming session out in Jeff's parked car had given him to walk over to her.

“Hey, Britta, right?” He said, putting on his practiced grin and charm.

“Yep.” She said shortly.

Jeff wasn’t sure what to say next, or what else could have been an excuse for him to come talk to her, so he asked, “Got any weed?”

“For you? No.”

“Hey I’m really not sure what I did to you, not saying I didn’t do anything, but—”

“Jeez, can you just leave my friend alone?”

Jeff’s stomach turned to knots. “Which friend?”

“Abed, who else? I mean I get that he’s a little quirky sometimes but can’t you just let him live?”

“I… I didn’t think he knew I existed.” Jeff stuttered out.

“First of all, you’re fucking Jeff Winger. Everyone knows who you are. You just follow him around, giving him dirty looks everywhere he turns. Poor guy is absolutely terrified of you, man.”

“I’m not sure how I’ve been coming across,” Jeff said, leaning in closer so Britta could hear him over the bass shaking the walls. “but that’s like, the last thing I want.”

“You don’t hate him?” Britta asked, confused.

“Like, not even a little.” Jeff said, laughing at the absurdity of the thought. “I swear to god.”

Britta gave him a long look, like she was trying to pick him apart. “Is this you asking me to be your wingman, Winger?”

Jeff choked on his breath, trying and failing to disguise it as a cough. “Is that an option?”

“Theoretically, I think so. He’s probably out by the garage. Just go talk to him. And _apologize_.” She added sternly.

“Thanks, seriously. And this conversation never happened, right?” Jeff asked, his voice low.

“Like I’d ever admit to associating with you.” Britta said back, but she was grinning.

...

Jeff navigated his way through the crowd, stopping to give one-word greetings to all the people who called out his name when they spotted him, and opened the side door. He peeked out and saw Abed, crouched on the steps.

“Hey.” Jeff said, tapping on the screen door.

Abed turned and jumped about half a foot.

“Sorry.” Jeff said, taking the steps slowly. “Didn’t mean to scare you. Is it alright if I sit down?”

“Yeah, I can get going.” Abed said, moving to stand up.

“No.” Jeff spit out, rushed, and Abed paused. “I mean, I was asking if I could sit with you.”

“You’re not gonna like, beat me up or anything?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Jeff promised.

Abed’s face seemed to relax a little as they settled next to each other on the concrete stair, knees just touching. “Cigarette?” Abed asked, pulling a pack and a lighter out of his pocket.

“Sure, thanks.” Jeff said, putting his hand out. Abed lit his own cigarette, taking a puff, then let it hang lopsided from his mouth as he lit Jeff’s. Those long fingers he’d been watching all this time were right in front of his face, flicking the lighter, and Jeff couldn’t help imagining them on his chest or his arms or maybe the inside of his mouth, which was definitely weird and creepy, but the thought wouldn’t leave his mind.

“Wouldn’t have pegged you for a smoker.” Jeff said after a second of comfortable silence.

“They make a good social crutch.” Abed said. “I always have an excuse to escape when things get loud or uncomfortable in there, and you can always make conversation offering them to people.” He gestured to Jeff with the cigarette balanced between his pointer and middle fingers.

“Understandable.” Jeff said back. “I talked to your friend there, Britta.”

“Yeah? That makes me kinda nervous.”

“It’s fine. She’s a little crazy though, I think.”

“Probably.” Abed admitted, smiling. “We’re neighbors though, been friends since we were kids. She was really good at getting me out of lockers in middle school.”

“I guess it’s for the best that we didn’t go to the same middle school.” Jeff said, avoiding Abed’s face.

“For sure. It was mostly your friend Mike who did that kinda shit, you know.”

Jeff felt his cheeks flush with shame. “I didn’t. I mean I knew I didn’t exactly roll with the nicest crowd but..”

“It’s fine.” Abed said, blowing smoke out from between his lips. “That’s why I was so scared of you though.”

“I’m really sorry about that, actually.” Jeff said, tentatively resting a hand on Abed’s knee. He struggled to find words to describe the situation that weren’t _”I totally, definitely have a giant crush on you.”_

“I wanted to get to know you better,” he said instead, and Abed tilted his head a little. “but I didn’t really know how to talk to you.”

“That’s okay.” Abed said easily, like it really was just okay. “I’m not the best at reading people either. The only reason I knew you were watching me is cause I’m usually the one doing the observing.”

“I’m happy that’s settled then.” Jeff grinned. “Can we start over?”

“Definitely. Why did you want to get to know me though?” Abed asked.

“Is _everything_ a bad answer? You just seem a lot more interesting than any of the people I hang out with.”

“Not at all. And I think I agree.” Abed laughed, and Jeff realized he’d never actually heard that sound before.

“You have a really nice laugh.” He found himself saying.

Abed smiled and carefully placed his hand over Jeff’s. “Thanks.”

They didn’t say anything else for a minute, until Abed’s cigarette ran out and he crushed the butt of it under his sneaker.

“I told you I’m not great at reading people, so don’t get mad at me or anything, but—” Abed started, and now it was his turn to be nervous.

“Yeah?”

“Is this like, a romantic thing? Or just a friend thing? I’m sort of confused.”

Jeff swallowed the lump in his throat. “It can be whatever you want it to be, but I was kind of going for the first one.”

“ _Oh_. Okay.” Abed sighed. “I’m good with that.”

“I’m— I’m not gay though.” Jeff backtracked. “I still like girls, I swear.”

“That’s fine, me too.” Abed said, with a little close-lipped smile, and Jeff wondered how the world had ever spun before these ten minutes.

“I’ve never told anyone that.” Jeff muttered. “Other than your friend Britta, sort of. And I don’t wanna know what my friends will think of you.”

“They’ll never be okay with it, you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’re never gonna be okay with you liking guys. There’s no way you can do it that’s acceptable to them. It doesn’t matter how little or much you even talk about it, they just won’t ever be comfortable with the concept. It’s not about what guy you like, or how you like him, it’s the act of doing it at all. Which sort of sucks, but I may as well break it to you now.”

“I guess I never thought about it that way.”

Abed nodded. “So you can be yourself without them, or keep pretending with them. That’s up to you.”

Jeff thought about it for a second, fully knowing that every word Abed had said was true. None of his friends, frankly most of the people in that house, wouldn’t be okay with him. But he’s just told Abed his deepest, darkest secret, and he hadn’t even blinked.

“Do you want to get out of here?” Jeff asked, staring at his hand on Abed’s knee and Abed’s hand on top of his.

“That’d be nice,” Abed said, leaning forward to see the crowd congregating around the keg in the backyard.

“We can take my car.” Jeff offered, putting his cigarette out next to Abed’s.

“Cool cool cool.” Abed answered, and as they stood up he flipped their hands around, slow and deliberate, to lace his fingers into Jeff’s.

They made their way to Jeff’s car, an old beater parked half a block from the house, and the whole time Jeff’s palm was on fire with the feeling of Abed’s hand in his, but the few people they passed were too fucked up or preoccupied with their own shit to pay them any mind.

When they got to the car Abed let his hand go, and Jeff tried not to think about how much he missed the contact already.

“Where did you want to go?” Abed asked while they were opening the car doors.

“I didn’t think that far ahead.” Jeff told him, laughing. “Just wanted to be alone with you.”

“Well you have a backseat, if that’s what you’re looking for.” Abed said, straight to the point.

“Okay.” Jeff said, taking a deep breath as they both closed the front doors and got in the back of the car. They were both looking at each other, and those wide eyes were staring right into Jeff’s soul, the intensity of it making him squirm in the seat.

“Are you sure I’m not misreading this?” Abed asked. “You’re like, way out of my league.”

“That’s not true.” Jeff said back automatically. “And you aren’t. I’ve just never kissed a guy before.”

“It’s not that different.” Abed said, then he leaned in and placed his lips on Jeff’s for a second before pulling them away. “See?”

They’d hardly even kissed, but Jeff’s insides were already doing backflips, and he leaned in to pull Abed into a real kiss. He placed a hand on the back of his head, forcing their faces closer together as Abed’s teeth grazed his bottom lip. He opened his mouth and Abed slipped his tongue inside, and he tasted like cigarettes, and Jeff was sure he did too, but this was so, so much better than any girl he’d ever kissed. Jeff could already feel the way he was losing himself in it, the only break for reality coming when Abed’s hand slid under his t-shirt.

After a few minutes they broke apart, out of breath and grinning, and they were both taken aback when they heard knocking on the car window, and saw Britta’s face an inch from the glass, smiling and laughing like a maniac.

Abed rolled the window down. “What the hell is wrong with you?” He asked.

“Just checking up on you.” She giggled, eyes bloodshot and the smell of weed wafting into the car.

“You’re the worst.” Abed said.

“I know. Have fun. And be careful, Winger.” She said, pointing a finger at him.

“Thanks.” Jeff nodded.

“Sorry about that.” Abed said as the window closed and Britta walked back to the party.

“It’s fine, she’s actually starting to grow on me a little.”

“She's definitely an acquired taste. Where were we?” Abed asked, then kissed Jeff again before he could answer.

Jeff didn’t know how long they made out for, didn’t want to know, just wanted to focus on Abed’s breath hitching when Jeff pulled the hoodie from his shoulders. He put his hands under Abed’s shirt too after that, fingers exploring the abs Jeff had spent the last month thinking about, feeling the ridges of Abed’s spine. Abed’s hands were gentle at first, resting on Jeff’s waist, but as things got heated his nails were scratching into Jeff’s back. He climbed into Jeff’s lap, taking charge in a way Jeff definitely wasn’t used to with the girls he’d hooked up with. Skinny as he was Abed’s weight was still overwhelming him, and Jeff knew he needed to make this, whatever it was, last as long as he possibly could. Of course, this was the moment that Britta’s fist started slamming on the car window.

“Open the door!” She yelled, and Abed obliged, letting Britta tumble into the backseat with them.

“I hate you so much right now.” Abed said, glaring.

“Doesn’t matter. You,” She said, pointing to Jeff again. “Drive.”

“What?”

“Just drive!” Britta repeated, and as she did they could hear sirens pulling up.

“Fuck, alright.” Jeff answered, hopping in the front seat and pulling away in the opposite direction just as cop cars diverged on the house.

“Didn’t you come here with your friends?” Abed asked once they were at a safe distance.

“Yeah, but fuck them.” Jeff said, and he could see Abed grinning in the rearview mirror. “My mom isn’t home, do you guys wanna watch a movie at my place or something?”

“Yes.” Abed answered immediately.

“Abed loves movies.” Britta clarified.

“In that case, you can totally pick.” Jeff told him, feeling his heart swell a little when Abed laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks so much for reading! ill have more vampire abed out soon if things go well!! if you have any prompts for me or wanna be friends im jabedalien on tumblr as well!


End file.
